- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Originaly Posted By Recon Number 54
I will be the first to admit that I do not scan The Maw as often as I scan other forums. I have on occasion, contributed to threads there that catch my eye, but for the most part, I have felt (perhaps mistakenly) that the regulars of The Maw were a self-reliant and one of the more rule-conscious groups of Bungie.Net members.
I have nothing in my PM box from anyone who mentioned any problem threads and/or members in The Maw.
I could have been wrong, but when I have visited The Maw I have found most posts, threads and participants to be older, more mature, more aware of online etiquette and the specific Bungie.Net rules (I had assumed that was because they were typically online PC gamers who are generally more mature and savvy (ie: older) than the "typical" adolescent console gamer).
If the first that I hear of a problem is a thread in The Septagon, then perhaps that forum does need more attention than my previous laissez-faire approach. Previously, I was under the impression that the regulars of that forum were more than able to deal with simple issues by making friendly and informative replies to a lost or unaware member. I have though that those regulars would PM or otherwise notify us of an issue that required moderator intervention.
Since it appears that I was mistaken, I will be happy to make my rounds more frequently through The Maw. If you would though, please do not hesitate to PM me for any issues or problems. I am not on 24/7 and I do not review every thread or every post, but I DO read and respond to nearly every PM that I get.
I see that we are complaining that some off topic threads are closed, and others aren't, people are blacklisted for comparativly minor offenses, while other, worse, offenders aren't blacklisted. To be fair, now that I look at some of the points and the "evidence" that has been given, I see that the off topic threads that aren't closed normaly have someone saying it is in the wrong forum or in someway letting the poster know the thread isn't supposed to be there, and the off topic threads that are closed are off topic with no one saying it shouldn't be there. We on the Maw, as Recon said, are mature enough to do a mods job, without mod powers. Therefore, they don't need to mod it as much. However, it doesn't mean there should be less modding. The threads that we do point in the right direction should be deleted/closed after they have been pointed in the right direction. The ones you close that we don't point in the right direction should have a reply stating the reason for closure, just so we don't come to this again. On the blacklisting thing, it seems to me that one of four things is happening.
1. There is a bug that blacklists people
2. The Mods are blacklisting for minor offenses
3. There is a rampaging Mod that is out to get us
4. The Mods are blacklisting without doing any background research into the blacklistee.
If it is the first one, it needs to be fixed. If it is the second one, the Mods need to lighten up. If it is the third one, well I was only joking. If it was the fourth one, there is something wrong. Blacklisting should be something that doesn't happen often, but when it does, its for a good reason and the person has been warned about their behaviour before. If blacklisting is the only thing you do to punish people, for both minor, major and all the in between offenses you need to rethink your punishment system.
I also think that while mods have extra power than normal users, they should also be part of the community. I can't speak for any forums except for the Maw and maybe the Library and Zanzibar, as I do go there occasionaly, but I will say there there is very little to no mod interaction that is not blacklisting, closing, or deleting threads. You may not have very much time to actually reply to posts, but you must have some time. I have seen a total of ONE post made by a moderator on a user created thread that was actually about the topic. Other than this one of course.
[Edited on 5/7/2005]